German firm's new mini drone dock passes final tests

German drone developer CiS has finished validation testing on a new compact launch and recovery system called the ORKA Dock Mini, the company announced Sept. 15, 2026 from Rostock, Germany.

The final flight tests took place at night, ahead of the first unit’s delivery to an undisclosed naval customer. The Dock Mini is built to launch and recover CiS’s ORKA drone from small platforms where space is tight, including uncrewed surface vessels, uncrewed ground vehicles, and even pickup trucks. Its footprint measures just 80 by 80 centimeters (about 31 by 31 inches), small enough to fit on vessels and vehicles that couldn’t accommodate CiS’s earlier, larger dock. The system can launch and recover the drone whether its host platform is sitting still or moving, including underway at sea.

During validation, CiS also tested ORKA flying on a tether connected to the Dock Mini’s external power supply. That setup removes the normal limit on flight time, letting the drone hold station over a target for as long as needed instead of having to land and recharge. In its standard, untethered configuration, ORKA has an endurance of up to 75 minutes and a top speed of 100 km/h (62 mph).

“ORKA Dock Mini takes many of the features found in our fully enclosed, but larger, ORKA Dock and repackages them into a much smaller form factor,” said Tom Kaufmann, founder and CEO of CiS. “Dock Mini can be installed on small USVs and land platforms or carried by a conventional pickup truck, giving operators greater freedom over where and how they deploy an airborne capability.”

“The successful completion of these tests is an important milestone ahead of delivery to our naval customer,” Kaufmann said. “It demonstrates that a compact system can still deliver the endurance, flexibility and operator-free performance required for demanding surveillance and security missions.”

CiS designed the Dock Mini to run day or night, in any weather, and in sea states up to 5, a scale that covers waves up to roughly 2.5 meters (8 feet). The company lists intended uses including persistent surveillance and reconnaissance, force protection, perimeter monitoring, convoy overwatch, harbor security, and guarding vessels or critical infrastructure.

The Mini follows CiS’s original ORKA Dock, a larger enclosed version the company unveiled in May 2026 at the Combined Naval Event in Farnborough, England. That system was validated the previous month during SeaSEC 2026, a naval security exercise in Rostock, where it completed automatic launch and recovery cycles from a moving FLANQ Q-RECON 24 uncrewed surface vessel. CiS has said demand for the larger Dock from NATO navies picked up quickly after that unveiling.

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